• @LordCrom
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    931 month ago

    So how about that COVID business loan money… Oh we ain’t getting that back.

    How about the auto bailout money… Not seeing that back either

    How about the bank bailouts from 16 years ago. Gotcha, also not getting that back.

    You, random student, we will get that 40k back from you if it takes 50 years.

    • @[email protected]
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      221 month ago

      ‘Member the airline bailout after 9/11? They also “temporarily” increased ticket prices and added checked bag fees (which didn’t used to be a thing at all) to account for the reduced sales. I’m sure those extra profits totally got responsibly invested into the air fleets 🤣

    • @shalafi
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      1 month ago

      As to the auto industry bailout, would you rather have had a major American industry simply collapse?! Don’t know about the others, but Chrysler paid it all back, with interest, years ahead of schedule.

      The Treasury made a profit on the bank bailouts.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Economic_Stabilization_Act_of_2008

      And all of that put together is chicken change against the $1.7 trillion owed in student loan debt.

      • @Cosmonauticus
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        241 month ago

        Isn’t the point of our government to break up industries to big to fail so things like this don’t happen? Congratulations you solved a problem that your institution is supposedly designed to prevent.

        The average American were the main ppl who lost their houses and jobs and got jackshit back from those bailouts. (Besides a measly 20 billion back from the bank bail out. Our government budget is in the trillions)

        No one is saying forgive 1.7 trillions tomorrow but it is MORE than possible to forgive that much debt over time and recoup it. Especially since as soon as that debt is gone ppl will buy shit like houses, take out loans for businesses, and have kids which all add economic value and tax revenue.

      • @go_go_gadget
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        71 month ago

        That profit worked out to be about 0.6% rate of return on a loan to failing businesses on the verge of bankruptcy. Do you know anybody on the verge of bankruptcy who’s ever received a loan with rates like that?

        Taxpayers would have been better off holding onto the company stock and receiving a portion of the profits today.

        We were robbed.

      • @MrMcGasion
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        61 month ago

        The economic loss of losing a generation and a half of workers who will be unable to save for retirement and will put a giant strain on the economy in 40-50 years when their brains and bodies are shot, but they can’t afford to retire because the money that they could have set aside went to paying student loans. It’s going to be way cheaper in the long run and a better investment to forgive student loans now, than to wait for all those people to hit retirement age and not be able to afford to retire, holding down jobs that should be opening for new generations and screwing over the youth once again. Not that newer generations will be as big, since those strapped with student loans are choosing not to have kids because they can’t afford it. Also if our social safety net for retirees (Social Security, Medicare, etc) is already strained, we’d better give people the best chance we can at being able to afford to save for their own retirements.

        If anything, the ROI on paying off student debt is better long term than the auto and bank bailouts - because the cost of not doing it is going to affect the economy for generations.

      • @afraid_of_zombies
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        1 month ago

        At best you are misinformed.

        GM paid back the loan but didn’t pay back the 45 billion dollar stock swap.

        The Bank Bailouts were paid back, but the excessive reserves were not which dwarfed the loans.

        For scale imagine I gave you a small city and 1000 dollars. You paid me back 1050 dollars. Then I never shut up about how I made a profit and enjoy my small city. No exaggeration a small city is the kinda money we are talking about. The excessive reserves program went into the 100s of billions.

      • @[email protected]
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        31 month ago

        As to the auto industry bailout, would you rather have had a major American industry simply collapse?!

        There’s allegedly 94 American automobile manufacturers, per Wikipedia. If there’s a disruption that would collapse all of them, that would be extremely serious - something which should be handled by making sure the industry is not at the whims of the economy.

        The simplest quick-fix is having the company give partial ownership to the government in exchange for a bailout, and the alternatives involve arguing about what color to use on the bike shed.

      • @pyrate37
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        11 month ago

        What does it matter to the auto industry to be saved if no one is buying their cars?

        The population can only bear the burden of these bailouts for so long before collapsing. Then nobody will survive.

        The people in debt are the plankton of the ocean. They seem insignificant until they are gone. Then the whole ecosystem collapsed.

    • @RGB3x3
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      21 month ago

      I might need to watch a sitcom about good, likeable people where after 30 minutes, everything is going to turn out okay.

  • Ghostalmedia
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    1 month ago

    language included in the 2024 Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act that could pave the way toward banning student loan cancellation.

    The current draft of the routine bill [bars] executive branch officials from cancelling or forgiving student loans taken out to pursue flight training or education at the undergraduate level, the Debt Collective warned on Wednesday.

    It’s like republicans are actively trying to lose in November.

    Edit: Also for the folks who didn’t read the bill. Ted Cruz ® is a cosponsor. Cruz HATES student debt relief. The other sponsors have all supported variations of student debt relief. Just say’n. If were wondering who snuck this into a boring routine bill, I’d start with that guy.

    • IHeartBadCode
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      361 month ago

      I keep telling folks, but the 118th Congress, the current one, we have so far 46 bills that have made it to law. The only one that really made a big difference was Pub. L 118-5 which ended officially the student loan repayment pause and ended some enhanced benefits of food stamps, SNAP, free lunches, etc.

      The other 45 bills have been mostly bumps to the debt ceiling (and of course the small “benefits” Republicans reaped in those), a 250th anniversary of the Marine Corp collection coin (because Congress has the power over the treasury, that’s one of the things they do), renaming post offices (Congress has power over the post in the Constitution), some bumps to VA funding, and that’s about it.

      The small wins they got in avoiding the fiscal cliff aren’t exactly massive bangers. I mean compared to say the 117th Congress, the one before this one, that hammered out 362 laws with hits like the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPs act, and so forth. There’s just been nothing like any of that in this current Congress.

      And the 116th Congress gave us 344 laws, navigated a pandemic, AND got two impeachments out the door.

      The Republicans have shown, they’ve got nothing. We literally have on record them as doing nothing. This has been the least productive Congress in modern history. They have literally set a brand new record for number of times it took to get a speaker and for the least amount of work done EVER.

      • @grue
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        211 month ago

        The Republicans have shown, they’ve got nothing. We literally have on record them as doing nothing. This has been the least productive Congress in modern history. They have literally set a brand new record for number of times it took to get a speaker and for the least amount of work done EVER.

        In other words, by the measure of anti-Americans who hate the Federal government, they’re the most successful Congress ever.

      • @[email protected]
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        21 month ago

        And they’ll still win because “woke bad” “GeNoCiDe JoE” and a healthy dose of “the vast majority of Democrats in office are conservative and we hate it.”

        Trump isn’t in office for people to be mad enough to get him out. Apathy will run rampant this time, people are already sick to their stomachs of all things political lately.

        I’m not looking forward to project 2025 being implemented… I’ve always despised organized religious zealots but it looks like they’re going to get to steer the ship going forward…

    • sylver_dragon
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      281 month ago

      It’s like republicans are actively trying to lose in November.

      Um, did you stop reading at the second sentence?

      The Debt Collective named Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) as particularly responsible for the language.

      I don’t have any love for the GOP, but this particular bit of “fuck you” is from neoliberal Democrats. They need replacing. Not with Republicans, but with better Democrats.

    • @jaybone
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      71 month ago

      It can only go so far before people wake up and start voting properly or heads start rolling, right?

    • @Kyrgizion
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      31 month ago

      Nah, it’s just that the machine has long since learned that they get more votes by attacking “the enemy” than by proposing anything constructive at all. The entire crux of their existence now is about being contrarian and “hurting the people who need it”. It’s a bit like clickbait. Everyone fucking hates it but it’s not going away because it works.

      • @grue
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        131 month ago

        You mean Trump? 'Cause he – not Biden – is the one who wants Israel to “finish” exterminating the Palestinians.

      • @BallsandBayonets
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        21 month ago

        Despite what corporate-owned Democrats may tell you, abstaining from voting for one very specific position because both choices are abhorrent is objectively not the same as casting a vote for “the other guy”. Even if it functionally results in the same outcome.

  • @[email protected]
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    251 month ago

    People have been pussified to the bone in this country. Government keeps smacking us down and we just stay down. We need the French attitude

    • Ghostalmedia
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      141 month ago

      Not government. Republican government.

      • @[email protected]
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        171 month ago

        to be completely fair, while it’s obviously the correct choice between the two, the democratic party isn’t exactly a shining beacon of social justice either.

      • @NegativeInf
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        31 month ago

        Performative bad governance to prove governance as a concept is bad. But yea, republican works too.

        • Ghostalmedia
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          21 month ago

          Was it? Ted Cruz and Jerry Moran are also cosponsors.

          I don’t know how to see who added what to a draft, but this does have bouquet of Cruz to it. If someone told be his office snuck it in, I wouldn’t be surprised.

          • @go_go_gadget
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            -11 month ago

            Obviously you didn’t read the article.

            The Debt Collective named Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) as particularly responsible for the language.

            • Ghostalmedia
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              21 month ago

              No, I read the article and the bill.

              https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1939/all-info

              Sponsor: Cantwell (D)

              Cosponsors: Cruz ®, Duckworth (D), and Moran ®

              Three of those people have a past of supporting student debt relief legislation at some point, one does not. One actively campaigns against debt relief in public. That is Ted Cruz. I’m not saying he or his aids did it, but I’d probably start there.

  • @soratoyuki
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    171 month ago

    Since no one apparently read the article, it’s the Democrats doing this.

    The Debt Collective named Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) as particularly responsible for the language.

    • Ghostalmedia
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      71 month ago

      And since no one read the BILL, Ted Cruz is one of the people that cosponsored this. Of the 4 sponsors, Cruz is the only one that is actively campaigning against debt relief. Even Moran, the other Republican cosponsor, has pushed for debt relief for service members.

      This smells of classic Cruz. He’s a petty little cunt and would totally sneak something like this into a routine authoritarian bill that no one is proofreading.

      https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1939/all-info

    • @[email protected]
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      31 month ago

      I find that really unlikely as both Schumer and Duckworth have called for debt cancellation by executive order and even if they were secretly opposed it’s a good campaign issue that can be reliably blocked by the filibuster or the courts. I think it’s just Debt Collective being a little loose with the definition of “responsible” to prompt outrage and more calls to the people who have power to do something (which is a good thing).

      • Ghostalmedia
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        21 month ago

        My money is on Ted Cruz. This article completely fails to mention that Cruz is one of the sponsors.

        Also, Cruz is the ONLY sponsor who hasn’t supported student debt relief in some form, and the only sponsor that campaigns against it in public.

        And, least we forget, he’s a sneaky little shit that loves to sneak stuff past people when they’re not paying attention.

      • Ghostalmedia
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        1 month ago

        Ted Cruz ® is a cosponsor, and is the only sponsor that campaigns against student debt relief, and is a weasel that loves to sneak things in when no one is looking.

          • Ghostalmedia
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            31 month ago

            I probably should have provided context. Of the two Democratic and two Republican sponsors, Cruz ® is the one is actively campaigning against student debt relief in the press.

            Also, of the people that voted for tanking Biden’s debt relief plan, only 3 were democrats. Tester, Manchin, and Sinema. The latter two are famously out of step with their party.

            All in all, the Democratic Party has a track record of supporting student debt relief, and the Republican Party has a track record of opposing it. Also, of the people sneaking anti debt relief language in this bill, odd are is was the big anti-debt relief tea party republican.

      • @skeezix
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        11 month ago

        A vote for neither of them is a vote for trump. The two party system needs to be changed.

  • @venusaur
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    161 month ago

    Repeat after me, “Corporate, America.”

    • @go_go_gadget
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      01 month ago

      You’re telling me these people might be procorporate trash in disguise?? No. No I won’t believe it. /s

      • @[email protected]
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        11 month ago

        I mean, that’s one interpretation, but Biden’s initial stab at cancellation probably wouldn’t have happened without Schumer getting on board and making it less just “Warren calling for stuff she wants”. Harder to dismiss it as progressive fringe when the majority leader keeps calling for it.

        My interpretation is that them being “responsible” is just a list of the Democratic leaders in each chamber and the expected sponsors rather than them actually making the edit. Flood their phone lines for sure, because they’re the ones who can shut it down (and arguably should have noticed and shut down without needing outside watchdogs), but I think it’s pretty obvious this was a Republican insertion. Even if they didn’t believe in debt cancellation, it’s still a good campaign issue for them and they could just rely the courts and filibuster to block their performative efforts.

        • @go_go_gadget
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          1 month ago

          Super easy to dismiss when it was shot down. Procorporate Democrats are champions at fighting for lost causes and accidentally fumbling easy wins.

          44 Democrat senators voted to block the rail strike. Fuck that procorporate trash.

  • bob
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    61 month ago

    unless they make college free it should be legal

  • Ghostalmedia
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    41 month ago

    The article doesn’t mention this, but Ted Cruz was a cosponsor. Cruz actively campaigns against debt relief. All the other sponsors have put forth and voted for debt relief in the past.

    Anyone want to take bets on shady ass Cruz sneaking this in and the other senators not reviewing what their staffers drafted for a boring ass authorization bill?

    This would be classic Cruz. Sneaky, petty, cheap political points, and fucks over people who don’t have money. That’s all like all Ted’s favorite stuff.

  • John Richard
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    -51 month ago

    They want indentured servitude. The reason they want to make this illegal is that airlines will have people sign contracts for “free” education in exchange for abusive work commitments. If they forgive student loans, then these airlines can no longer force people to stay in their jobs… also don’t be surprised that it is Democrats writing these laws. Just look at what Biden did when it came to railroad worker unions.

    First it will be airlines, then it will be schools trying to force teachers into indentured servitude.

      • @Viking_Hippie
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        1 month ago

        Biden worked with Sanders and gave the railroad workers everything they asked for

        Categorically false. The NLRB worked with the unions to achieve SOME of their completely reasonable asks but not all and nowhere near as much as they could have gotten if Biden hadn’t told Congress to take away their most effective weapon and force them to fight with one hand behind their backs.

        It just didn’t make headlines because it happened like a week after the media decided to move onto something else.

        It made it into the body of countless propaganda articles giving Biden undue credit for the work of the NLRB and not giving him the blame he’s due for taking away their right to strike, though.

        For all his “middle class Joe” posturing, when push comes to shove he’s on the side of the rich people and industries handing out legal bribes to him and his buddies every time.

          • @Viking_Hippie
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            01 month ago

            These are all lies

            Nope, I’ll leave the lies to you

            he took away their strike. That was wrong for sure.

            Hey, you’re not holding up your part!

            in the end they got everything the union had asked for.

            There we go.

            It’s absolutely valid to complain that he stopped the strike

            So you DO care about labor rights?

            However, it was made right eventually.

            Nope, back to repeating the lies.

                • catsarebadpeople
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                  -21 month ago

                  You’re the liar and it seems that people know it. Enjoy your life trying to force your unreasonable black and white views onto everyone. Flexibility and diversity are good things. Not everyone has to see the world exactly as you do. Goodbye forever! :)

      • TherouxSonfeir
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        61 month ago

        The media doesn’t like to report anything positive because it doesn’t get clicks